Amoral Gower: Language, Sex and Politics

Watt, D. (2003). Amoral Gower: Language, Sex and Politics. Medievil Cultures Series, volume 38. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. RAE2008

James Joyce and the Problem of Psychoanalysis

Thurston, L. (2004). James Joyce and the Problem of Psychoanalysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RAE2008

Gadamer, History and the Classics: Fugard, Marowitz, Berkoff and Harrison Rewrite the Theatre

Forsyth, A. (2002). Gadamer, History and the Classics: Fugard, Marowitz, Berkoff and Harrison Rewrite the Theatre. Studies in Literary Criticism and Theory: Vol. 15. New York: Peter Lang. RAE2008

Corporeal prisons: dynamics of body and mise-en-scène in three films by Paul Schrader

This thesis focuses on the complex relationship between representations of the human body and the formal processes of mise-en-scène in three consecutive films by the writer-director Paul Schrader: American Gigolo (1980), Cat People (1982) and Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985). While Schrader’s work has typically been critiqued under the broad category of masculinity in crisis (and often as a subset of the films of his more famous long-time collaborator, Martin Scorsese), I focus on a fiveyear early period of his filmography when he sought to explore his key themes of bodily crisis, fragmentation and alienation through an unusually intense focus upon the expressive potential of film form, specifically via the combined elements of colour, lighting, camerawork and production design. By approaching these three films as corporeal character studies of troubled figures whose emotional and psychosexual neurosis is experienced in and through the body, I will locate Schrader’s filmmaking process and style within the thematic and aesthetic contexts of both his own early film criticism and the European and Japanese art cinemas that he claims as his primary influence. In doing so, I will establish Schrader’s position as a director whose literary and theological background differentiated him from his peers of the postclassical Hollywood generation, and who thus continually sought to develop his own visual literacy through his relationship with the camera and his collaborations with more overtly style-oriented film artists. But instead of merely focusing on mise-en-scène to gain a formalist appreciation of these films, I mobilise stylistic analysis as a new critical approach towards the problematic discourses of identity and embodiment that have haunted Schrader’s career from the beginning. In particular, I argue that paying closer attention to Schrader’s formal choices sheds new light on how these films – which he approached as exercises in style – repeatedly deal with the volatile and unavoidably body-oriented categories of race, gender and sexuality. In the process, I argue that a formalist attentiveness to mise-en-scène can also provide valuable cultural insights into Schrader’s oeuvre.

Continuity and Change on an Urban Houselot: Archaeological Excavation at the 22 West Street Backlot (18AP51) of the Annapolis National Historic District, Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Intensive archaeological investigation was undertaken on an urban backlot in Annapolis, Maryland. Fieldwork was conducted on behalf of Historic Annapolis Foundation for the property's owners, King and Cornwall, Inc. Supplemental documentary research, an evaluation of existing conditions on the property, and below-ground excavation of a 35 X 70 ft. urban backlot were conducted. While the project was not a Section 106 compliance effort, the field methods and rationale for the site's investigation are comparable to those of standard Phase II site evaluations. Historical documentation attested to the fact that the 22 West Street Backlot, located along the western most edge of the Historic District of Annapolis, Maryland, had seen development and occupation since the first quarter of the eighteenth century. A substantial brick structure was known to have occupied the property in a series of altered forms for much of that period. This structure served a variety of purposes over time: a private residence in the eighteenth century, a boarding house in the nineteenth century (known as the National Hotel), a duplex in the early twentieth century, half of which remained in use until the structure was entirely razed in the 1970s after destruction by fire. Recovery and analysis of site formation processes (i.e., both cultural and natural transformations of the buried remains) indicated that sections of the site were disturbed to a depth of six feet. In contrast to what initially seemed a poor prognosis for site integrity, other areas of the backlot revealed numerous intact historical features and deposits. Structural remains from the dwelling and its associated outbuildings, additions, and attendant trash deposits were recovered. What was initiated as a program of limited testing evolved into a larger-scale undertaking that made use of largely hand-excavated units in conjunction with machine-assisted stripping of areas demonstrated to contain from four to six-foot deep sterile layers of fill. The current investigations provided a window into a portion of the city and period in its history not documented archaeologically. Moreover, this project provided valuable insight into the archaeology of the homelot within a lightly industrialized, urban context. Evidence was recovered of shifts in the layout and arrangement of the houselot as well as changing relations between individuals and the workplace--all within an urban context--an issue defined elsewhere in the archaeological literature as a significant one. No further investigations are recommended for the site, however, further analysis and interpretation of materials recovered are ongoing. In the event that the site were to undergo development, monitoring of any construction activity is recommended.

Curating architecture and the city

Addressing the collection, representation and exhibition of architecture and the built environment, this book explores current practices, historical precedents, theoretical issues and future possibilities arising from the meeting of a curatorial ‘subject’ and an architectural ‘object’. Striking a balance between theoretical investigations and case studies, the chapters cover a broad methodological as well as thematic range. Examining the influential role of architectural exhibitions, the contributors also look at curatorship as an emerging attitude towards the investigation and interpretation of the city. International in scope, this collection investigates curation, architecture and the city across the world, opening up new possibilities for exploring the urban fabric.

Plankton indicators and ocean observing systems: support to the marine ecosystem state assessment

Ecological indicators are used extensively as tools to manage environmental resources. In the oceans, indicators of plankton can be measured using a variety of observing systems including: mooring stations, ships, autonomous floats and ocean colour remote sensing. Given the broad range of temporal and spatial sampling resolutions of these different observing systems, as well as discrepancies in measurements obtained from different sensors, the estimation and interpretation of plankton indicators can present significant challenges. To provide support to the assessment of the state of the marine ecosystem, we propose a suite of plankton indicators and subsequently classify them in an ecological framework that characterizes key attributes of the ecosystem. We present two case studies dealing with plankton indicators of biomass, size structure and phenology, estimated using the most spatially extensive and longest in situ and remote-sensing observations. Discussion of these studies illustrates how some of the challenges in estimating and interpreting plankton indicators may be addressed by using for example relative measurement thresholds, interpolation procedures and delineation of biogeochemical provinces. We demonstrate that one of the benefits attained, when analyzing a suite of plankton indicators classified in an ecological framework, is the elucidation of non-trivial changes in composition, structure and functioning of the marine ecosystem.

X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet emission from the coronae of Capella

The primary objective of this work is the analysis and interpretation of coronal observations of Capella obtained in 1999 September with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer on the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE). He-like lines of O (O vii) are used to derive a density of 1.7 x 10(10) cm(-3) for the coronae of the binary, consistent with the upper limits derived from Fe xxi, Ne ix and Mg xi line ratios. Previous estimates of the electron density based on Fe xxi should be considered as upper limits. We construct emission measure distributions and compare the theoretical and observed spectra to conclude that the coronal material has a temperature distribution that peaks around 4-6 MK, implying that the coronae of Capella were significantly cooler than in the previous years. In addition, we present an extended line list with over 100 features in the 5-24 Angstrom wavelength range, and find that the X-ray spectrum is very similar to that of a solar flare observed with SMM. The observed to theoretical Fe xvii 15.012-Angstrom line intensity reveals that opacity has no significant effect on the line flux. We derive an upper limit to the optical depth, which we combine with the electron density to derive an upper limit of 3000 km for the size of the Fe xvii emitting region. In the same context, we use the Si iv transition region lines of Capella from HST/Goddard High-Resolution Spectrometer observations to show that opacity can be significant at T = 10(5) K, and derive a path-length of approximate to 75 kin for the transition region. Both the coronal and transition region observations are consistent with very small emitting regions, which could be explained by small loops over the stellar surfaces.

Multi-zone TAP-reactors theory and application - IV. Ideal and non-ideal boundary conditions

We study the influence of non-ideal boundary and initial conditions (BIC) of a temporal analysis of products (TAP) reactor model on the data (observed exit flux) analysis. The general theory of multi-response state-defining experiments for a multi-zone TAP reactor is extended and applied to model several alternative boundary and initial conditions proposed in the literature. The method used is based on the Laplace transform and the transfer matrix formalism for multi-response experiments. Two non-idealities are studied: (1) the inlet pulse not being narrow enough (gas pulse not entering the reactor in Dirac delta function shape) and (2) the outlet non-ideality due to imperfect vacuum. The effect of these non-idealities is analyzed to the first and second order of approximation. The corresponding corrections were obtained and discussed in detail. It was found that they are negligible. Therefore, the model with ideal boundary conditions is proven to be completely adequate to the description and interpretation of transport-reaction data obtained with TAP-2 reactors.

Coordination and movement pathology: models of structure and function

Here we consider the role of abstract models in advancing our understanding of movement pathology. Models of movement coordination and control provide the frameworks necessary for the design and interpretation of studies of acquired and developmental disorders. These models do not however provide the resolution necessary to reveal the nature of the functional impairments that characterise specific movement pathologies. In addition, they do not provide a mapping between the structural bases of various pathologies and the associated disorders of movement. Current and prospective approaches to the study and treatment of movement disorders are discussed. It is argued that the appreciation of structure-function relationships, to which these approaches give rise, represents a challenge to current models of interlimb coordination, and a stimulus for their continued development. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Crossing the threshold: exile and literature in "El Canto del peregrino" (1999) by Angelina Muñiz-Huberman

This paper analyses the relation between exile and literature in Angelina Muñiz-Huberman’s work El canto del peregrino. In this collection of essays, the Spanish-Mexican writer, member of the second generation of Spanish Republican exiles in Mexico, outlines a poetics of exile. From the outset, the relation between exile and literature is presented in terms of identity: while defining exile as “literary form”, the book tends to prefer a metaphorical concept of exile over ‘merely’ historical or referential approaches to it. More in particular, this paper will examine how the author constructs an identity of ‘exiled writer’ based on the close association between exile and literature on the one hand, and on the view of exile as ‘home’ or ‘dwelling’, on the other hand. A second point of interest concerns the discursive impact of this literary and metaphorical concept of exile and the author’s personal experience. A brief analysis of the essayist’s discursive voice and her writing practice shows how Muñiz-Huberman gives shape to an intrinsically complex and paradoxical view on exile.

Rarity, pseudodiagnosticity and Bayesian reasoning

Three experiments investigated the effect of rarity on people's selection and interpretation of data in a variant of the pseudodiagnosticity task. For familiar (Experiment 1) but not for arbitrary (Experiment 3) materials, participants were more likely to select evidence so as to complete a likelihood ratio when the initial evidence they received was a single likelihood concerning a rare feature. This rarity effect with familiar materials was replicated in Experiment 2 where it was shown that participants were relatively insensitive to explicit manipulations of the likely diagnosticity of rare evidence. In contrast to the effects for data selection, there was an effect of rarity on confidence ratings after receipt of a single likelihood for arbitrary but not for familiar materials. It is suggested that selecting diagnostic evidence necessitates explicit consideration of the alternative hypothesis and that consideration of the possible consequences of the evidence for the alternative weakens the rarity effect in confidence ratings. Paradoxically, although rarity effects in evidence selection and confidence ratings are in the spirit of Bayesian reasoning, the effect on confidence ratings appears to rely on participants thinking less about the alternative hypothesis.